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Make Your Own
Wacky Instruments
by Jon Madin
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Illustrated instructions for making musical instruments
for schools, parades and just for fun.
Beatin’ Path Publications, LLC
BPP-MYOWI
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Make
Your Own
Wacky
Instruments
by Jon Madin
Illustrated instructions for making musical instruments for parades, schools and just for fun.
Illustrated by Caroline Munday
y
2 Make Your Own Wacky Instruments
© COPYRIGHT BY JON MADIN 1996.
AVAILABILITY
Reprinted 1999, 2003, 2006, 2012.
This book, as well as: All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright
owner.
ISBN No : 978-0-646-30724-4
Make Your Own Marimbas,
Make Your Own Wacky Instruments,
Marimba Music 1 (Book/CD),
Marimba Music 2 (Book/CD), and
Marimba Music For Little Kids (Book/CD)
are available from:
Beatin’ Path Publications, LLC
302 East College Street
Bridgewater, VA 22812
See us at www.beatinpathpublications.com.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Caroline Munday for line drawings, proofreading and for her
continuing support for the project.
Thanks also to José and Gladis Rodríguez, Andy Rigby,
Phil Melgaard, Heather McLaughlin, Linsey Pollak, Luke Price
and Glenn Cook.
Photography: Tony Kerrigan, Caroline Munday, Jon Madin, Roger King.
Design and desktop publishing: Catalyst Publishing.
Cover graphic: Henry Madin.
Make Your Own Wacky Instruments 3
45 Rubber Glove Hooter
47
Cone Instruments
47 Cone Kazoos
48Chookaphone
48 Cone Horns
49
Aluminium Tube Instruments
49 Single Dingers
51Ladderglock
52 Curly Dinger
53 Whirly Dinger
54Dingboxes
57
Aggy Pipe Instruments
58 Shaker Rings
60 Aggy Rain Stick
61Aggyguiros
61
Metal Instruments
61 Nail Bells
62Triangles
63 Thunder Sheets
64 Zingers and Clangers
66Washerphone
67
Comb and Cup Scraper
67Floatwhacker
68
Rubber Band Whizzer
69
Rubber Band Plucker
70
Cassettanets, Cassettaraccas, Spinal Tapes
72
Old Record Whoosher
73Stubbyblower
73
Double Clinkaphone
74Clackerslap
75
Thai Dancing Poles
77
Heath Robinson Instruments
79Profile
80Herringbone-a-phone
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Contents
4Introduction 4Tools 4
Chromatic Tuners
5
Where to obtain materials
6
Degree of difficulty in making
these instruments
7J-Pipes 8 Big Singles
9 Beaters for J-pipes
10 Mini J-pipes
11
Boing Pipes 12Variations
14 Fitting the floating cap
15Beaters
16 Big Single Boing Pipes
19 Bass Multiboing
20 Triple Boings
22 Miniboings and Aggyboings
22Miniboings
24Aggyboings
25 Aggy Bongos
26 Waterboing and Water Tromboing
27 Music for Boing Pipes
29
Street Parade Band
30 Parade Instruments
31 Street Parade Music
32
Drums 33 Coffee Pipes
34 Stretched Vinyl Pipe Drum
35 Variation: Two-Tone Drum
36 Sixty-Litre Blue Plastic Barrel Tripod Drum
38 Thirty-Litre Blue Plastic Barrel Parade Drums
40 Sieve and Flax Drum
42 Drums with springs and wire attached
43
Rubber Glove Instruments
44 Flubber Pipes
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4 Make Your Own Wacky Instruments
Introduction
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•
•
•
•
This is an idea and instruction book for making a variety of simple musical instruments and sound making
devices. The distinction between sound and music is not always clear, nor does it matter. ‘Interesting’
sounds are the priority.
Most of the ideas presented here have an element of originality. I have tried to refrain from direct copying
but some of the instruments are clearly adaptations of existing ones. For example, drums, thunder sheets
and the dancing poles are included with suggestions for materials and dimensions that have worked
well for me. For a number of the instruments, in particular the ‘boing pipes’ and J-pipes, I know of no
previous version.
With few exceptions, the instruments described here are not particularly loud. Playing soft instruments,
lots of people can be involved. The sound texture produced is very different to the small group / loud
instruments approach. A bonus is that singing and chanting works well with J-pipes, boing pipes and
the softer drums.
In the field of homemade instruments, ideas tend to go round and round with no one knowing exactly
where they came from. Here are a few ideas that come from a shed in Herne Hill.
Alas, this book does not include instructions for making echocellos and musical bikes. Perhaps there will be
a new volume soon with these new instruments and more.
Tools
•
Most of these instruments can be made with
hand tools - saws, hammers, chisels, hand drill,
screwdriver, file, sandpaper, tape measure, etc.
There is a tendency for adults to use power tools
such as cordless drills, jigsaws, electric sanders, etc.,
without considering the possibility of using the
unpowered version, i.e. brace and bit drill, keyhole
saw and sandpaper, which are more appropriate
when involving children in these projects. Access
to a vice and a strong workbench is recommended.
A useful substitute is the ‘workmate,’ a portable
workbench which grips your work securely. If
unusual tools or processes are required (e.g. glass
cutting), they are mentioned in the text.
Chromatic Tuners
A chromatic tuner is invaluable for tuning
instruments. It is a little more expensive than a
guitar tuner, but is very easy to use. Kids get the
idea quickly.
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•
Jon in his cluttered shed
Make Your Own Wacky Instruments 5
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Where to obtain materials
old cassettes and records...................o p p o r t u n i t y s h o p s , u n d e r y o u r
............................................................................sound system
elastic cord (thick and thin)................camping equipment shops
metal strapping........................................timber yards, factories
strong flax material..................................“
air mattress inflator.................................camping suppliers
rope...................................................................“
shock absorber bushes........................auto parts suppliers
eyelets.............................................................“
aggy pipe......................................................plumbing suppliers
PVC pipe and fittings.............................“
aluminium tubing....................................aluminium suppliers, window places,
.............................................................................some bigger hardware shops
ball floats.......................................................“
fibre drums...................................................reverse garbage places
PVC pipe........................................................second hand building material yards
............................................................................and plumbing suppliers
textile cones.................................................“
tools.................................................................hardware shops
cardboard tubes........................................“
wide tape......................................................“
thunder sheet metal...............................“
elastic cord (thick)...................................“
threaded rod and washers.................“
rubber bands...............................................s t a t i o n e r s f o r a b e t t e r r a n g e ,
.............................................................................newsagents
rope..................................................................“
cardboard tubes........................................material shops,
sieves...............................................................“
timber, chipboard, ply,
metal strapping.........................................timber yards, second-hand building
material places
dowel..............................................................“
wire...................................................................“
roofing screws...........................................“
whipper snipper cord...........................“
decorating material.................................“
disposable rubber gloves....................supermarket
big barrels.....................................................stock food places, drum and barrel
.............................................................................merchants, factories
lamb marking rings.................................rural suppliers
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Triple Boing boys
strong vinyl material...............................“
wire....................................................................“
thunder sheet metal...............................printers
6 Make Your Own Wacky Instruments
cardboard tube sax
cassette instruments
comb and cup scraper
cone kazoos
flubber pipes
long pipe and beaters
nail bells
pole-dancing poles and sticks
rubber band pluckers
rubber band whizzers
shaker rings
wire clangers
wire zingers
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Degree of
difficulty in
making these
instruments
Easy
Easy
These can be made at school by primary age
children with varying amounts of adult help.
Moderate
These can be made by upper primary
and secondary level students with adult
supervision. The students would need to be
shown how to use a chromatic tuner for some
of the instruments.
Technical
These may require special tools and a little
woodwork experience.
Technical
bass multiboing
clackerslap
dingboxes (the most tricky instrument here)
ladderglocks
sieve drums
single dingers
stubbyblowers (glass cutting is required)
tripod drums
whirly dingers
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A note for teachers
• Often a task may seem difficult at first. For example, getting
the joiner piece into the shaker ring. If students treat it as a
problem to be solved by their group, they are very pleased
with themselves when they are successful.
• Rubber glove hooters can be temperamental. It’s better if
the students keep persevering to work it out rather than
being given all the secrets in advance.
• If you are planning to make an instrument with a group,
make the instrument yourself first. You can then modify
the design, building method, materials, etc., to suit your
situation and the students capability.
Moderate blue barrel drums
boing pipes: tuning is necessary
coffee pipes
J-pipes: tuning is necessary
old record whooshers
pipe drums
strapping triangles
washerphones
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Corrugated drainage pipe
bent into a ‘J’
makes a great parade instrument
J-Pipes
I was told that if you bend aggy pipe (unslotted corrugated flexible poly
drainage pipe) and hit it, it makes sound. It certainly does, but only if hit
in certain ways and hit in certain places. I tried circles and U’s and pretzels
and S’s but the shape that really worked was the J. Short lengths of 50 mm
pipe (say, down to 1 metre) work well, but the most impressive are the big
J’s made from 100 mm pipe. About 10 feet long and with streamers flying
from the end, they are surprisingly easy to carry in ‘events’ and parades. They
make a great sound, especially in multiples of the same pitch. The thin stick
that keeps the pipe straight also doubles as a good percussive instrument
when hit by the wooden part of a beater. Aggy pipe is available at plumbers
suppliers and plastic plumbing places.
Brunswick Street Fringe Parade
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8 Make Your Own Wacky Instruments
Approximate length of pipe
Stick or
bamboo length
2080
Low C2400
1600
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Low A2880
J-pipes, triple boings and shaker rings
Beaters for J-pipes
Cut 22 mm hardwood dowel into 300 mm lengths.
Sand the ends smooth with sandpaper or by scraping them on concrete paving.
Push an automotive shock absorber bush (available at auto parts stores) onto
the dowel. The J-pipe is played by holding the string where it joins the straight
section with one hand and hitting the inside of the curved section with a beater
in the other hand.
For the small J-pipes described later, use smaller bushes on 300 mm lengths of
19 mm dowel.
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Avoid using commercial xylophone mallets as they are usually too thin to produce
an interesting sound when you click them together or hit sticks with them.
Make Your Own Wacky Instruments 9
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Heath Robinson Instruments
Here are a few instruments that were highly impractical and which no longer exist.
It was fun making them.
What some poor
children have to put
up with. A fan-driven,
amplified, swinging bed
pan instrument made for
a hospital music project
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10 Make Your Own Wacky Instruments
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A bass glove hooter with milk bottle lid and wire key mechanism.
It worked, but only for show and tell.
A barrel mounted 3-player boing
pipe instrument made for the
Melbourne Fringe Festival Parade
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Make Your Own Wacky Instruments 11
Profile
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Jon has worked in many areas associated with music playing,
teaching, folkdance and instrument making. He has led workshops
at kindergarten, all kinds of schools, tertiary institutions, and at
many festivals.
He began making marimbas in 1990 after being introduced to
the idea by Andy Rigby. Large versions of the marimbas were
immediately popular with the junior secondary students, likewise
with primary age children.
When you have a shed full of bits and pieces of pipe, dowel, wood, etc.,
the temptation to experiment with sound possibilities is hard to resist.
This book is the result.
Community marimba
playing in Geelong
Also Available from Beatin’ Path Publications:
[email protected]
www.beatinpathpublications.com
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The Herringbone-a-phone
A golf ball rolls down and strikes the marimba bars (or
aluminium tubing). The bars can be repositioned to
play different tunes.
Padded bars make rests. A smaller version would be
more practical.
This setup plays ‘Jingle Bells!’
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Make Your Own Wacky Instruments 13
45 Rubber Glove Hooter
47
Cone Instruments
47 Cone Kazoos
48Chookaphone
48 Cone Horns
49
Aluminium Tube Instruments
49 Single Dingers
51Ladderglock
52 Parade Dinger
53 Whirly Dinger
54Dingboxes
57
Aggy Pipe Instruments
58 Shaker Rings
60 Aggy Rain Stick
61Aggyguiros
61
Metal Instruments
61 Nail Bells
62Triangles
63 Thunder Sheets
64 Zingers and Clangers
66Washerphone
67
Comb and Cup Scraper
67Floatwhacker
68
Rubber Band Whizzer
69
Rubber Band Plucker
70
Cassettanets, Cassettaraccas, Spinal Tapes
72
Old Record Whoosher
73Stubbyblower
73
Double Clinkaphone
74Clackerslap
75
Thai Dancing Poles
77
Heath Robinson Instruments
79Profile
80Herringbone-a-phone
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Make Your
Own
Wacky
Instruments
4
Introduction 4Tools 4
Chromatic Tuners
5
Where to obtain materials
6
Degree of difficulty in making
these instruments
7
J-Pipes 8 Big Singles
9 Beaters for J-pipes
10 Mini J-pipes
11
Boing Pipes 12Variations
14 Fitting the floating cap
15Beaters
16 Big Single Boing Pipes
19 Bass Multiboing
20 Triple Boings
22 Miniboings and Aggyboings
22Miniboings
24Aggyboings
25 Aggy Bongos
26 Waterboing and Water Tromboing
27 Music for Boing Pipes
29
Street Parade Band
30 Parade Instruments
31 Street Parade Music
32Drums 33 Coffee Pipes
34 Stretched Vinyl Pipe Drum
35 Variation: Two Tone Drum
36 Sixty Litre Blue Plastic Barrel Tripod Drum
38 Thirty Litre Blue Plastic Barrel Parade Drums
40 Sieve and Flax Drum
42 Drums with springs and wire attached
43
Rubber Glove Instruments
44 Flubber Pipes